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The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization.

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Love, Contemporary

Sleep on while I am talkingI am just arranging the curtainsover your naked breasts.Love doesn’t look too closely...love looks very closelythe shock of beauty you gave methe third rail that runs through our hospitality...

from "The Ecstacy" by Phillip Lopate

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We were stepping out of a readingin October, the first cold night,and we were following this couple,were they at the reading? and becausewe were lost, I called out to them,“Are you going to the after party?”The woman laughed and said noand the man kept walking, and she

Watching Picnic again for theumpteenth time. We needmore trains. The tin-roofed stations inred brick or the grand multi-trackwhite terminals. Someone leftme by train once, tearily, andI never should have let hisjive ass back in to collect his thingsthat were

I have enough times been the ampersand,the hitch between two vehiclesthe vehicle itself careening questionablyup the mountain road, which is,in my opinion, poorly designed, a hazard.It is sometimes called the coast,the coastal highway, but neverthe cliff-side transfer

When she says margarita she means daiquiri.
When she says quixotic she means mercurial.
And when she says, "I'll never speak to you again,"
she means, "Put your arms around me from behind
as I stand disconsolate at the window."
He's supposed to know that.
When a man loves a woman he is in New

Before going to bed I take off my bracelet. It is meant to protect me. A dancer gave it to me: for decades she has known sorrow and beauty. Beloveds have come and gone. Mountains and forest fires. Lives that might have lived through her, but didn’t. Lives that do still live through her. I go to sleep,